Shipman & Goodwin taps former AG Jepsen to lead new practice group

Shipman & Goodwin LLP says it's hired former Attorney General George Jepsen and his top lieutenant, marking the second round of high-profile former state government leaders the Hartford law firm has added in recent weeks.The firm announced Monday that Jepsen and his Chief Deputy General Perry Zinn Rowthorn have been named partners and will lead the firm's newly minted state attorneys general practice group.Shipman's new practice group will represent corporate clients in investigations and enforcement actions brought by state attorneys general nationwide. That includes government inquiries, investigations, litigation and settlement monitoring.The group, also supported by other attorneys in the firm, will serve a wide range of businesses, Shipman says, in addition to individuals in areas of consumer protection, data privacy, and antitrust and environmental regulation, among others.Shipman's latest hires comes three weeks after the firm announced it hired Connecticut's Department of Children and Families former commissioner Joette Katz as a new partner in its business litigation practice group.Jepsen, who recently served on Gov. Ned Lamont's transition team, was Connecticut's 24th attorney general. He did not seek a third term and was succeeded by William Tong.Meantime, Rowthorn served several roles in the state's attorney general office over 19 years. He spent the last five years as chief deputy.Alan E. Lieberman, managing partner of Shipman & Goodwin, says he "admired" watching Jepsen and Rowthorn lead Connecticut's attorney general office through several bi-partisan, statewide and multi-state issues concerning data privacy and mortgage fraud.Shipman says Jepsen played a key role in several high-profile investigations facing Connecticut. That includes price-fixing in the generic drug industry and what Shipman says was the largest mortgage-foreclosure settlement in U.S. history.Jepsen also spearheaded an investigation into abusive consumer account practices by a multinational financial services company and another case of an unprecedented data breach by a credit-reporting agency.He served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) from 2016 to 2017 when he was awarded the organization's highest honor -- the Kelley-Wyman Award given to the attorney general who has achieved its objectives.As deputy attorney general, Rowthorn led some of the attorney general office's most high-profile cases, Shipman says, including privacy, consumer protection, antitrust, securities, environmental enforcement and false claims act investigations and litigation.Previously, he served as associate attorney general for litigation overseeing the office's full portfolio of litigation and investigations.Shipman has more than 170 attorneys in offices in Connecticut, New York and Washington, D.C.